The month of May has gone so fast. It seems that the pace of the work is picking up. The first part of May we hiked the new water project in the Lembung area of Bandung which is about a two hour drive. Elder and Sister Davis are there as the site manages of the Clean Water Project. The water comes from clean mountain streams and is drinkable. We hike about eight kilometers in total through some of the most beautiful mountain train ever. What a blessing this is for these people to get clean water for the first time in their lives. Most of the water has to be piped in two 4" PVC pipe twelve kilometers before it is distributed to the five different villages. Large cement tank are constructed to distribute the water to surrounding villages. These five villages were not sure we were serious about this project because they have had so many groups come and with the idea that they could do the job, but would soon back away and not proceed.
We went to the opening ceremony for the project. This was quite the celebration. They had some stuffed lions on a couple of platforms with large poles that 4 guys put on their shoulders. Dad and Elder Davis got on the lions and the men pick them up and carried them up a small hill to where the program was being held. There was a band playing music all along with them too. (women are not important here) This was some celebration. After they got all the speeches over with. They had food, music and singing. Then they put the elders on the lions and they did all kinds of trick and things as they were dancing around. I don't know how they were able to carry Dad up there. I had to be very hard on their shoulders and then did are these acrobat things too.
The Cleft Lip and Palate project was scheduled for latter part of July; however the surgeons who have volunteered to perform 50 surgeries decided move the schedule to the first part of June. The Area Presidency has asked us to present a puppet show to teach about good hygiene and addictions. This required us to scramble a bit to get everything ready as the puppet stage and puppets were in a different area of Western Java. We took the puppet show to the Bogar Branch on Sunday and visited with the youth about presenting the show to the patients and parents at the hospital on Thursday afternoon. I was concerned because of the late notice and about their ability to do the job but the Young Woman's President was so positive about it that she had enough volunteers. Today we saw her at a funeral service and she said that the kids were practicing the show that day.
We went to a gong factory and then went to a little place that make these puppets that we see everywhere. There was a man sitting on the ground carving the heads of these puppets by hand. He just sits there all day. Then inside their house they had shelves and shelves of puppets. We picked out a set and it wasn't quite like how we wanted it so they vanish the heads the color we wanted and then they dressed them also. It was so fun to watch as the Father was carving and painting the heads and his wife and daughter were dressing each one of them.
The next week we hiked parts of the Nanggung clean water project with Elder and Sister Kane. This was kind of a hand over ceremony to Elder and Sister Walker since they are leaving. This water project is in the Bogor Region where the Kane's served. This is the same kind of terrain that we experience in Bandung except this is rice growing country where the mountains are terraced for the rice paddies. (see picture) So much of the water in rice country is contaminated with chemicals; this water is not good for drinking. Here we have to go deeper into the mountains to find the spring water.
We also hiked the pathway project we took over from Elder and Sister Kane. This is quite a hike just to get to the pathway and then the pathway is about 600 meters long. They have been taking a long time to complete this project and we gave them just two months complete it or it will get canceled. They understood that we were serious and would organize the villager's workers to get it completed. This pathway of concrete is to help the children get to school and back to there home without getting muddy and wet. It will be used by all villagers as well.
We are getting ready now for the Family Enrichment Program Seminar. We will be having a meeting on June 5th and filming of the Indonesia family home evening we take place on July 7th and 8th. We are excited about what this is going to do for Indonesia and the effect this might have on the growth of the Church here.
We have also submitted a project for a Seminar on Clean Water Project, teaching current and future engineers, designers, and contractors about Clean Water Projects. The projects calls for some specialist from SLC to be the teachers and we will take tours into the current water projects to evaluate what might done to increase the longevity of a clean water system. This project if approved will take place in mid-July.
Time is going by so fast. Half our mission time has gone. It just seems like we just got here. We have a lot of work to do and it looks at this point there will be plenty of work for the next couple who comes to Indonesia. We love the work and the people. They treat us like a King and Queen. We are always ask to set on the front row of Ceremonies and everyone wants to shake our hands, except the little kids who are scared of us. They warm up to us as we spent time with their parents and shake their hands.
